The Right Answer
by Three-Eyed Squirrels
Summary: Achenar told him one thing, mother told him another thing, and five year old Sirrus is determined to find out who is right.


The sun was shining, the air was warm, and a pair of birds twittered and chased each other playfully across the summer sky. Earlier in the day, Atrus had linked to Stoneship, and the boat where the linking book was housed bobbed gently on the dock. Catherine was busy Writing something, and Anna had gone with father. Achenar was in his room trying very, very hard to draw a mouse, and right now had gotten it down to a blobby shape with fur that somewhat resembled one.

And Sirrus, he was bored.

He watched father raise the ship and then link away, and when he realized that everyone else was busy doing something, proceeded to sit at the dock for the past hour trying to figure out why the boat was floating. In his five-year-old mind, this was the most important thing _ever _and he absolutely would not be satisfied until he knew why the boat was floating.

He sat at the edge of the dock with his head propped up on his elbows, staring at it. Occasionally he would poke it, but that didn't make any difference. Then he would prod the water to see if that had something to do with it. But the water responded just like it always would.

Finally, after half an hour, Sirrus came to the conclusion that there was no reason why the boat should be floating when normally it was underwater, and was forced to ask someone who wasn't really busy. He knew father and Nanna were gone, so maybe mother could help. He wandered to mother's workshop and peeked in, but mother was too intent on Writing so he couldn't ask her. So he continued down the hall until he came to all the bedrooms and found Achenar's door slightly open.

Sirrus pushed the door open and saw Achenar sitting on the bed with the mouse in a cage next to him, looking at the mouse really hard and then back at the paper.

"Achenar?"

The older boy looked up. "What?"

"Why do boats float?"

Sirrus waited expectantly as his brother put down the pad of paper. Normally he wouldn't ask Achenar because Achenar never answered his questions. He usually just called him annoying and pushed him in the mud. But grandmother was busy, and mother and father were out, and he had to ask _someone _because he saw the big boat at the dock and it was floating. It was always under the water before and today it wasn't and he _had _to know why.

"I don't know," Achenar replied.

"Because the boat at the dock is floating and it never did that before."

"Father probably did something to make it float."

"But what did he do?"

"I don't know, ask him."

"He's not here. Do you think it floats because he put more water under it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you think it floats because he put vol-ties on it?"

"What?"

"Volties. Like with the space-ship."

"Voltage, you dolt."

"Those."

"I don't know."

"Do you think…"

Achenar threw down the pencil and sat up. "Stop asking me! I don't _know _why that stupid boat is floating."

Sirrus frowned. Achenar _had _to know. He always said he knew so many more things than Sirrus did, so he had to know about the boats. Achenar was eight years old and eight year olds knew…well, not everything, because Nanna knew everything. But almost everything. Mother and father knew a lot but Sirrus didn't understand the things they told him half the time because they used words like "voltage" and "seismology". Achenar said Sirrus didn't understand because he was stupid. Achenar knew what those words meant. And it didn't mean Sirrus was _stupid. _It just meant he wasn't five and didn't know almost everything.

Maybe if he sat here longer, Achenar would tell him.

But no. Achenar was ignoring him.

"What if there's balloons in the ship and they were inflated? Doesn't that make things lighter and lighter things float?"

"I don't _know_ about the boats or balloons. Now stop asking me and get out of my _room._"

Maybe if he stayed just a _little _bit longer, then.

He sat down on the floor and looked under the bed. Achenar had all sorts of funny things that lived under the bed. Once there was a mouse…a different mouse…and Sirrus caught it and pulled on its leg, and it bit him on the hand. Achenar laughed at him. He always thought it was funny when something happened to Sirrus. He laughed for a whole _day _when Sirrus snuck into father's workshop and found this thing with all kinds of buttons and levers and he pushed the wrong button and got zapped. But it was a funny looking machine and Sirrus wanted to know what it _did. _And he did know now…it was a thing to zap people.

Sirrus pushed the covers aside and tried to wiggle under the bed. What was under here today? More mice?

There was a mousetrap right by his nose. He wiggled away from that right away. He found one of those once in the library and wanted to see what that did too. It snapped shut on his finger and it _hurt. _Probably hurt the mouse too.

Here was something. Sirrus reached out a hand and poked it. It was covered in crinkly paper and made an interesting noise. Was it food? It could be food. Or maybe it was a present for someone! Or from someone! Sirrus liked getting presents.

"Achenar, what's this?"

"What are you doing under my _bed?_" and before Sirrus could do anything more, he felt himself being dragged out from under the bed and pushed over. Achenar glared at him and stood over him and looked like he was going to hit him in the head with the notepad.

"I wanted to see what was under there,"

"I told you to get out of my _room._" Achenar shouted. "You're not _allowed _here. How many times do I have to tell you to keep out and leave me alone before you do?"

"I wanted to know about the boats," Sirrus squeaked.

"Well, then go ask someone who _cares_."

"But there's no one here and you know more than me,"

At this, Achenar stopped shouting, and instead sat down on the floor in front of Sirrus. "I do," he said.

Sirrus nodded.

"Want to know what else I know?"

Sirrus nodded again, more enthusiastically.

"I'm gonna tell you something, and it's something that even Nanna doesn't know."

Then it must be really, _really _special.

"You know the clock tower?"

"Yeah?"

"You know all those nests on top of it?"

"Yeah, there's a lot of them,"

"I'm gonna tell you something about those nests. I bet mother told you they were bird nests."

"She did."

"Well, she's wrong. You know what _really _lives in those nests?"

"What?" Achenar leaned forward conspiratorially. "Flying monsters," he whispered.

Sirrus' eyes widened.

"Real flying monsters," Achenar continued. "They're as big as the library and they're green and scaly, except on their wings where they have huge shiny black feathers. They're black so you can't see them at night. And they have long tails with spikes at the end that can kill you if you touch it. And even worse, they have giant heads with big, sharp, shiny teeth and horrible yellow eyes that freeze you where you stand. And every night they're on the top of the clock tower with their huge nests and they feed all their babies."

Sirrus' hands twisted together nervously.

"And do you know what they feed their babies with?"

He shook his head.

"People," Achenar whispered this so quietly that Sirrus wasn't even sure he heard it at first. "They feed them to their babies. Or sometimes they pick them up in their ugly scaly claws and fly away with them all the way across the ocean. And you _know _how big the ocean is."

Sirrus nodded.

"But not big people, like mother or father or Nanna, because they're too heavy and the monsters can't pick them up. And they tried carrying me off once but I fought it off and it let me go and won't come after me again because if it does, I'll chop off its tail and put it right there." Achenar pointed over his bed. "But you're smaller than me and really light. So don't go out after dark because then they'll see you and eat you."

"Okay," Sirrus squeaked again. Achenar opened his book again, and Sirrus turned and scurried out of the bedroom, through the living room, and outside again, all thoughts of boats forgotten.

Flying _monsters? _Were there _really _giant scaly monsters that lived on top of the clock tower? Mother never warned him about that! And mother was always sure to tell him everything that was outside because once he climbed to the top of the circuit breaker and kept pulling the lever to see what it did, and father got really frustrated because he was trying to power the spaceship and didn't understand why it wasn't working. So mother told Sirrus what everything outside was and what it did. But she never mentioned the monsters.

Sirrus walked over to the basin where the little boat was floating in and hid behind it. He peeked over the edge, staring at the clock tower in the distance. He never knew there were flying monsters there.

Good thing Achenar was older and knew enough to warn him.

Mother returned just after the sun set, but father and Nanna were still out, so mother put Sirrus to bed.

"Mother?" he asked.

"Yes?" she replied, putting a glass of water on the table next to his bed in case he got thirsty in the night.

"Are there really flying monsters that live on the clock tower?"

"Who told you _that_?" mother said, raising an eyebrow.

"Achenar,"

She chuckled and shook her head. "There's no such things as flying monsters," she said, her voice then turning very serious as she looked right at him to make sure he knew she was telling the truth. "There are plenty of birds' nests on the clock tower, but there are no flying monsters at all."

"Okay,"

"Now why don't I tell you about what I saw once on Aspermere?"

Sirrus brightened. He was getting a story tonight! Mother normally _never _told him stories, and hers were so much more exciting than father's were!

She told a story about three fishermen and their daring battle against this huge bird that was trying to turn over their boat and steal all their fish. She told him the whole story and didn't even get mad that he stopped to ask her questions all the time like father sometimes did.

"So Fraleen said to his friend, 'I will climb to the top and talk to it.' But Mishen didn't believe him, because who would? A bird that big would never listen to anyone as small as Fraleen was."

"Was it a talking bird?"

Mother smiled but didn't answer. "So Fraleen took the rope and climbed all the way to the top of the mast. He held out his arms and called out to the bird. The sails flapped in the wind and his friends stayed below, far away from the danger. Fraleen was the bravest of all. And then the bird came again, ready to steal the fish, wings flapping harder than the sails, the wind coming from it almost knocking the boat into the water completely…" mother's voice trailed off, and she stood up.

"And then what?" Sirrus demanded.

"I'll tell you tomorrow, if you promise me not to get into any trouble."

"But I want to know _now,_" Sirrus insisted.

"Then I won't have anything to tell you tomorrow," mother replied. "But if you promise, I'll maybe even tell you tomorrow afternoon, after lunch."

Sirrus brightened. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Okay then! I promise."

Mother laughed. "Goodnight, Sirrus."

"Goodnight, mother."

She leaned over and kissed his forehead, then turned off the light as she left the room. It was totally dark in his room but Sirrus wasn't afraid of the dark. Father said once that after the lights go out, if you close your eyes for thirty seconds and open them again, you could see better. Sirrus did that every night before he went to bed and it worked _every time. _He looked around his room one more time before putting his head on the pillow and trying to fall asleep.

Except there was a noise outside, and it was a loud horrible noise and it sounded like it came from right outside the _window._

Sirrus didn't know what it was, but he wanted to. He got out of bed and crept across the room, peering curiously out the window. It didn't look like there was anything…but then the noise came again, and it was from right under the window where he couldn't see it. Could he open the window?

He tried pushing it open but it was really hard. There had to be an easier way, one that didn't hurt his fingers. He looked around the room, and finally found a big stick that father brought back from Terrel once. It was silver and shiny and had shiny jewels all down one side, and when you looked into each jewel it would show a different scene. It used to be Achenar's but he got bored with it and gave it to Sirrus.

Sirrus took the stick and put it on the bottom of the window and pushed on it…and the window opened all the way. Imbalanced, he fell forward, dropping the stick and putting his hands out to stop his fall. He scraped his hands on the floor but that was okay because he got the window open and could now see what did that noise!

He stood up and looked outside. And there at the bottom of the window was what looked like a large mouse, only it squeaked and flailed and there was red all over the place. Sirrus didn't know why but it didn't look like the mouse was too happy, and there…there looked like some sort of _bite mark _on the side…

Bite marks!

Flying monsters!

Sirrus stepped back from the window sill and ran all the way back to his bed. The only thing that could probably bite mice on this island could be nothing else _but _flying monsters. And if there were flying monsters, that meant that now that his window was open…no, they couldn't come in here and get them because they were too big.

But mother said there weren't any such thing. And mother was a lot older than Achenar and told better stories than father and therefore she had to be right. She said the nests on the clock tower were just birds.

But Achenar said there were. And he liked to climb the clock tower all the time so he would see the nests closer than mother would and would _know _what were in those nests. So he had to be right.

But they couldn't _both _be right. One of them had the right answer and the other had the wrong answer and there were _no such things _as two right answers.

And he wanted to know who was _right._

Sirrus padded over to his door and pressed his ear to it, straining to hear any sounds from the other side. There was nothing…just father's snoring from the room next to them. Everyone was probably asleep, which meant…

Mother always yelled at Achenar when he climbed the clock tower because it was dangerous. Sirrus didn't know what dangerous meant but it was something bad and would get you in lots of trouble if you did something that was. But everyone was sleeping…so no one had to know.

Sirrus walked back over to the window, looked around again, and then climbed out, landing with a soft _flump _on the grass. It was dark, but the moon was out tonight and it lit the island enough for him to see where he was going. He left the house and followed the paths across the island until he got to the last one leading from the basin where the little boat was. There he stopped, because the path ahead of him leading into the forest was _dark _and if Achenar was right and there were flying monsters, they were definitely going to get him right there.

But what would Achenar say if he was too afraid to walk down there just because it was dark? Achenar would laugh at him and say it was because he was small and stupid and afraid, and being afraid was something _bad. _Sirrus wasn't afraid of anything.

So he bravely walked down the dark path.

When he reached the end, no flying monsters had come to get him. He stood at the shore, staring out at the clock tower. He needed to see the nests on the top and see if there were any baby flying monsters in it, since the grown-up ones…if there were any…were probably out looking for food. And the only way to see the nests was to…

Sirrus looked up. Get to the top of the clock tower.

It probably wasn't a smart idea, because it was dark and he never climbed the tower in the daytime. Achenar did all the time but it was always during the day and he never went with him. But if he didn't climb it _now _then he never could because if he tried during the day then mother and father and Nanna would see him and they wouldn't let him do it and he'd _never _know who was right.

It was worth it to do _anything _just to get the right answer.

The metal gears that led to the tower were still there. He glanced over his shoulder again, then scampered across them.

The tower itself was huge. He looked all the way up, nearly falling over backwards when he saw the top. It looked really hard to climb.

But it had to…it _had _to be done.

He pushed the button for the door to open, then walked inside the clock tower. It was squished inside and really dark, but it was how Achenar always said he got in…climb in the middle and then there was a door at the top that would open and let you outside. Except he did it during the day and now it was night and Sirrus couldn't see anything inside the tower.

Okay. So he couldn't do it this way. There had to be a different way of doing it.

He walked back outside and looked up. Could he climb on the outside?

Maybe.

It was worth a try.

…and the first three tries involved climbing a few feet and then falling until his rear was sore from hitting the ground. But if he couldn't do it then he would have to wait until morning and by then the flying monsters…if there were any…would be all gone.

He was going to _climb _this tower and _find out _about them.

An hour later, he pulled himself over the top of the tower and onto the roof. For a moment he didn't even bother looking. He just sat there and grinned at his success. His hands were scraped from the stone and several times he almost fell off, especially when he was near the top. But it was…what would father call it? An "impressive feat". He said that a lot. An impressive feat for being five. He climbed the tower _all by himself._

Now back to business.

It was still dark, but the moon and stars were out and that made things a little brighter. He stood up and looked around. The top of the tower was flat except for that stick in the middle. Now, the nests…

He walked around and found four nests at different places. They were all small, woven with sticks and branches, and two of them had little white eggs in them. One had a speckled egg that was bigger than the white ones. But all the nests were small. Flying monsters didn't build small nests, did they?

There was a twitter and a chip, and something came barreling out of the air and smacked Sirrus in the side of his head. He yelped and fell over, covering his face. Whatever it was kept hitting him, and when he finally opened his eyes to see, a very angry brown bird with black spots on its wings was flying over his head, squawking angrily. It flew at him and then at its nest until he scooted away from the nest to the other side of the tower. Then the bird settled down, giving a contented chirp as it sat on the eggs.

That wasn't a flying monster. It was just a _bird. _They were all birds because they all had small nests and little eggs. And the bird was just angry that Sirrus was looking at the eggs and poking the nests.

Sirrus was tired, his hands were scraped from climbing the tower, and he hurt from falling so many times…but he was happy. Mother was right. There were no flying monsters. Achenar was just making it up. Sirrus found out who was right. Now he had to go wake up Achenar and tell him that he was wrong, and after that, he could go to sleep.

He realized too late that, while he managed to climb up the tower by sheer force of will…he had no idea how to get back down.

* * *

Sirrus woke the next morning shortly after the sun rose to the sound of his brother's voice. It was very loud and sounded close.

He opened one eye, and then another, and then rolled over. The sky was pink and a few stars still shone, and Sirrus had the oddest feeling that there was a twig in his ear.

He sat up with a start and almost fell back over. He tried everything last night to get back down but couldn't find anything, and had fallen asleep on the tower, and soon mother would find out and that…oh, that would be much, much worse than not knowing the answer to the flying monster question.

Sirrus bit his lip. The only person who climbed the tower all the time was Achenar, and he saw his brother hiding behind the rock fortress they built several weeks ago, his head peeking out to scout for raiders.

Then Achenar dove out, yelled loudly, and ran in the direction of the water. He hurled a rock in the water and shouted triumphantly, crowing that he defeated the pirates and that they'd never come back.

"Achenar?"

Achenar looked up and stepped back several paces, eyes widening in bewilderment.

"Hi," Sirrus said.

Achenar dropped the second stone he was holding. "What are you doing there?" He demanded, shielding his face from the rising sun. "Mother is going to kill you for climbing that," he added, going from confused to pleased in less than a second.

Sirrus just realized that, too. "I know,"

"Then why are you up there?"

Sirrus looked at the birds' nests and then at the sky. "Because you told me there were flying monsters up here," he said, realizing then that what made perfect sense last night didn't make that much sense now.

"There are," Achenar replied.

"No, there's none. Mother said there weren't any and you said there were and I wanted to know. So I climbed up here last night so I could see them. But there aren't. Mother was _right_." He gave a satisfied nod. "Is she really going to kill me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because if I'm not allowed to climb that, you're not, either. And then I'm going to get in trouble because you climbed it and I should have told you not to."

"I did it last night,"

Achenar blinked again. "Last _night_? When last night?"

"When everyone was sleeping."

"You climbed the tower in the dark?"

Sirrus nodded.

"You are definitely the stupidest person I've ever met," Achenar informed him, shaking his head. "Now I have to go tell mother. You better climb down _now _while I do that." Achenar turned to walk back down the path to the house.

"Wait!"

He turned around. "What?"

Sirrus looked down and bit his lip. He didn't say anything, just picked at one of the numerous nests. "I can't," he finally admitted.

"Can't what?"

"Get back down. I tried but I don't know how."

Achenar sighed. "Didn't think of that when you climbed up, did you?"

Sirrus shook his head.

"Too bad," He started walking away again.

"_Wait,"_

"_What?"_

"I don't think I can get down myself," he said, glancing around to make sure that no one else heard him say that.

"So what?"

"Can…" he chewed on his lip for a very, very long time. "Can you help me?"

Achenar stopped walking and turned back around, staring at his little brother. Sirrus clasped his hands together and made sure to look exceptionally pitiful. It usually worked when he did that to mother. She almost always did what he wanted when he gave her the sad face.

"I won't tell mother when you climb the tower ever again," Sirrus promised. "I won't tell her when you do anything you're not allowed to ever again!"

"Fine,"

Sirrus watched as Achenar walked across the gears and opened the door, entering the clock tower. He let out his breath in a relieved _whoosh._ He got Achenar to help him down, and then not only would he have learned about the lack of monsters, but he would have learned how to get up _and _down from the clock tower. And, if they were lucky, it would be before mother woke up or father and Nanna got back from Stoneship.

A small door opened and Achenar pulled himself onto the roof.

"Come on," he said impatiently. "Before anyone finds out."

"Okay,"

Achenar went back down the hole and Sirrus followed. Last night this was all dark and he couldn't see all the gears and levers and whatever else was there, so he obviously couldn't climb it. Now that he could see it, it didn't look that hard at all, and he didn't need Achenar to show him the way. But he did need Achenar to open the door, so it was a good thing he got his brother to come up here.

Together they climbed down and left the tower, walking back along the path. Then a sudden loud rushing sound interrupted their walking, and Sirrus looked to see that the ship in the basin sunk again.

"Look!" Sirrus pointed. Achenar looked, and a second later, the two boys went running down the path back to the house as fast as they could. They got to the door and Achenar fumbled with the knob, finally getting it open, then tearing down the hall and separating at the last moment into their respective bedrooms.

Sirrus shook his head wildly to get any stray twigs out of his hair, closed the window, and then got back into bed, pressing his cheek into the pillow and closing his eyes. No, that didn't look good enough. He kicked at the blankets a bit more to make it look more slept in, and then settled down again.

Unfortunately, less than a minute later, he heard his father's and Nanna's voice in the hallway, and they sounded confused…and father less than pleased…about seeing Sirrus and Achenar running very quickly back here. Sirrus winced. They'd been found anyway. And he'd have to tell them what he was doing all night, because Nanna would give him that look and he always told the truth because he didn't want her to be disappointed.

So he would be in trouble. That wouldn't be fun and he wouldn't get to do anything interesting for at least a week, maybe two. But he really didn't care, because he found the answer, and it didn't matter what happened afterwards.


End file.
